20. Once or twice traders and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem.
21. So I warned them. I said, “Why are you spending the night by the wall? If you do it again, I will force you away.” After that, they did not come back on the Sabbath.
22. Then I ordered the Levites to purify themselves. I told them to go and guard the city gates. They were to make sure the Sabbath remained holy.Remember me, my God, for this. Have mercy on me because of your great love.
23. In those days I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab.
24. Half their children were speaking the language of Ashdod or some other place. They couldn’t speak the language of Judah.